The Black River Falls Tigers had worked overtime in four of their first seven games of the season but had only two ties and two losses to show for it. On Thursday night in Chippewa Falls, the Tigers battled into a second overtime against the CFM Sabers, snatching a win on Camryn Steele’s breakaway goal with just twenty-six seconds remaining. The fans in attendance were treated to a fantastic hockey game complete with that heart-stopping, last second, sudden death double overtime finish.  

“We showed some grit and snuck one out when we weren’t at our best,” said BRF head coach Brady Mathison. It was a highly entertaining game that featured timely goaltending at both ends of the rink. CFM head coach Mikayla Hogan lamented her teams’ missed chances, “Hockey is a game of capitalizing on opportunities and BRF did just that while we couldn’t finish on numerous point-blank chances.” 

The Sabers jumped out to a lead just a minute and forty-six seconds into the game on a backdoor rebound goal by impressive freshman Avery Lindstrom. Some gritty corner work by freshman Allison Xu set up the goal as she retrieved several loose pucks feeding one to defenseman Rhylee Buesgen whose shot rebounded to an open Lindstrom on the backdoor.

Senior Addi Buesgen nearly extended the lead twice using an end-to-end rush to get to the net only to be stopped by Tiger goalie Alexa Moore. Black River Falls tied the game on point shot from defenseman Camryn Steele that Sabers goalie Aubrie Dowd appeared to lose in traffic. The teams traded powerplay chances late in the period. Tigers’ defenseman Piper Mathison made a sliding play with a minute left in the period to break up a CFM two-on-one chance. The Sabers out-shot the Tigers 8-5 in the period.

Black River Falls turned a strong second period start into a 2-1 lead on a rebound by goal by Kaia Moore. The Tigers offensive rush led to Moore’s loose puck goal from the side of the CFM cage. It appeared that the net may have been off, but there was no call from the officials. Tigers’ freshman Chloe Noth just missed extending the lead when she picked up a deflected pass midway through the period and shot the puck over the net from the hash marks. A minute later CFM’s Lindstrom took a feed in the high slot from Addi Buesgen and stepped around a defenseman only to be stopped by Moore. At the other end Dowd made two big saves on a BRF two-on-one with five minutes to play in the period.

At 15:48 BRF’s Steele was sent to the box for tripping. Chippewa Falls capitalized quickly from a face-off win by Addi Buesgen resulting in a powerplay goal by her sister Rhylee. Ashley Slupe assisted on the game tying goal, selling a fake shot before sliding the puck across to Buesgen.

The Sabers dominated the start of the third period building up a 10-2 shots advantage. Lindstrom netted her second of the game on a rebound from the top of the crease giving CFM a 3-2 lead.  With just under five minutes to play, Ally Ritter stripped away a pass at the CFM blue line and moved in alone on Dowd. The Tomah sophomore beat Dowd from the hash marks to tie the game at 3-3. Neither team could unlock the game winner in the final five minutes and for the Tigers, they headed to their fifth overtime game of the season.

The eight minute five-on-five period saw CFM dominate with a 9-3 shots advantage. A Tiger penalty on Jordyn King put CFM on the powerplay for the end of the first overtime and into the second. The Sabers had a rare four-on-three powerplay to open the three-on-three second overtime format. Neither team could generate any quality scoring chances as the overtime moved to under a minute to play. The Tigers finally found a way to victory when Steele stepped in front a rink wide pass and caught the Sabers in line change. The sophomore defenseman cruised in alone faking, then going to her backhand and tucking the puck past Dowd’s outstretched pad for the game winner.

CFM logged thirty-seven shots on Moore, who quietly turned in a solid performance. Dowd finished with 23 saves.

The loss dropped CFM to 2-3 on the young season. “Heartbreaker of a game to lose,” said Hogan. “Have to be proud of the effort in controlling play for much of regulation and essentially all of the overtime with a short bench.”

The Tigers’ record is now 3-3-2 as they look to take a breath with a weekend off ahead. “We get a long weekend to get healthy and come back Monday fresh,” Mathison stated.

“We knew this was going to be another tightly contested sectional game,” Mathison explained. “CFM plays the game the right way, with pace.  Good program, well coached.” For the Tigers’ finding a way was rewarding. “We were extremely proud of our kids last night.  Physically we just weren’t there as a unit. We had some great individual efforts, and some players had to embrace different levels, positions, and roles. 

Three Stars of the game:

1-BRF-Steele, 2-BRF-Moore, 3-CFM-Lindstrom